1 1/2-to-3 years behind bars for one of biggest all-time S.I. Mall robberies

It's shades of jail for a New Jersey thief who was a fingerprint away from pulling off one of the biggest heists at the Staten Island Mall.

Vernard Lawson, 34, was shipped off to prison yesterday under a plea agreement in which he admitted to stealing nearly $30,000 worth of designer sunglasses from the New Springville retail center in May last year.

Lawson, who has addresses listed in New Jersey, North Carolina and New York, was sentenced to one and one-half to three years behind bars following his guilty plea Jan. 15 to a count of attempted grand larceny in the third degree.

Lawson's thick rap sheet also includes arrests in several states for theft, possession of stolen property, drug possession, trespassing, criminal mischief, and six arrests in Brooklyn dating back to 2002.

Dressed in brown velour sweatshirt and sweatpants, Lawson chose not to speak during his sentencing yesterday at state Supreme Court, St. George.

Sometime between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. after the Mall closed May 17 last year, Lawson broke the locks on the Sunblox kiosk on the first floor then dumped about 209 pairs of expensive sunglasses into a bag and fled.

Cops valued the total haul at $28,925, the largest single shoplifting incident at the Mall in recent memory.

The only thing the thief left behind was a single fingerprint.

Investigators ran the print through the Automated Fingerprint Identification System, used by state and federal agencies.

A five-month investigation ended when the resulting hit matched up with Lawson.

Lawson was initially charged with third-degree grand larceny and burglary, and criminal mischief.

He could have faced up to seven years in prison on the top count had he been convicted at trial.